Topic: News

Due to a number of queries we have had from our members, it seems many people are pretty confused about the range of firmware versions that there are for the Pioneer A04. Well, thanks to our regular contributor Flash we have a new review which explains the whole can of worms. We have also upgraded our download area to include all the possible A04 files you might want.

Sharing the podium at the Comdex Recordable DVD Council (RDVDC) press conference today, Andy Parsons, senior vice president for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., and Tony Jasionowski, North American RDVDC managing director, took a "no smoke, just fire" approach to presenting the facts about the new milestones that are driving DVD burner sales. After making their presentations, Parsons and Jasionowski left little doubt that the new DVD drives eliminate the performance, compatibility and price barriers to creating and sharing home movies and personalized videos.

Philips is to highlight its focused technology strategy at COMDEX 2002 by showcasing several new products and solutions based on core competencies in display, storage, connectivity and digital video processing.

The DVD6C Licensing Agency (DVD6C), the industry body representing the seven leading developers of DVD technology and formats -- AOL Time Warner Inc., Hitachi, Ltd., IBM Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) -- today announced that it expects to start global licensing of essential patents for DVD-Audio and recordable DVD products on or about January 1, 2003. Licenses will cover both drives and media, including DVD-Audio, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R.

Recordable DVD drives, media and applications will experience dramatic growth next year and through at least 2006, Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research, told attendees of the Recordable DVD Council (RDVDC) ISV meeting here today. Speaking to more than 100 executives from hardware, software and solutions firms prior to the beginning of Comdex, he emphasized that sophisticated consumers and digital Darwinism or the laws of nature should guide firms' product plans, not bold new experiments.

Ahead Software, creators of the world-renowned CD/DVD recording software Nero, have announced plans to integrate full MPEG-4 audio support (AAC -- Advanced Audio Coding) within Nero Burning ROM. Available soon as a downloadable plug-in, the Nero AAC encoder is the result of extensive in-house development work by Ahead in MPEG-4 technology.

Imation, a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, will feature its complete portfolio of optical storage solutions during COMDEX. New offerings feature the latest speeds in recordable optical media, including 4X DVD+R media, 4-16X High-Speed and 8-24X Ultra-Speed CD-RW media, as well as the Imation FlashGO!(TM) 2.0 device -- the latest in flash/memory card reader/writers.

Kano Technologies, a new DVD+RW/R storage-solutions company, is introducing its first product at COMDEX on Monday. The K2EXTREME DVD+RW/R internal drive features award-winning NTI Backup NOW! Combo software, and is a complete solution for desktop backup and restore. Designed for system builders, it takes full advantage of the DVD+RW format and 4.7GB storage capacity. It can also record to CD media. A retail version of the drive will be available at a later date.

Ulead Systems, Inc., a leading developer of video editing, image editing and DVD creation software, today introduced Ulead(R) DVD MovieFactory(TM) 2.0, the latest version of one of the top selling consumer-level DVD creation software in the market. DVD MovieFactory 2.0 gives home and office users an affordable and easy-to-use tool for sharing high-quality videos and digital image slideshows on DVDs and CDs. The software's innovative DVD technology lets anyone easily and quickly transform videos and photos into polished DVDs while providing flexible editing and archiving options.

Nearly 100 executives from system, software and solution firms nodded in agreement at the RDVDC Independent Software Vendors (ISV) meeting today as they heard industry leaders explain that the demand for Forum-approved Recordable DVD products is being driven by the burgeoning home video market.

Ricoh Company, Ltd, a co-technology developer of the CD-RW and DVD+RW rewritable formats, announced its next generation DVD/CD writable drives and media products.

Deltron Technology E-mailed us to let us know of a new product they have just launched: the Cinema Disk portable digital MPEG 2 video player series. Cinema Disk is a revolutionary video storage product that offers high speed, high volume storage for MPEG 1/MPEG 2/JPEG/MP3 files and instant playback on TV/Projector through S-Video and Composite Video output.

Click here for Smart Media DVD-4032 (Superslim) review

Princo have provided us with a compatibility chart for their media. Princo manufacture the following brands of dvd media: Bulkpaq, Whitelabel, Datasafe Yellow.

We have compiled a list of DVD players and their compatibility rating with DVD-R discs. You should check this list for your brand and model of DVD player if you haven't played a DVD-R disc in your player before. The list is organized by manufacturer and model number. Use your browser's Find feature to search the page for your model.

Click here for the Princo Compatabilty Chart

Click here for the CyberHome CH-DVD 402 DVD Player review.

Datasafe Media Limited have sent us an email outlining their strategy for DVD media for the coming year. All new Datasafe branded DVD media will be manufactured by Ritek to a unique Datasafe Formulation. The new disc which is currently at the Beta test stage should be available for commercial release within the next 14 days (subject to beta tests being favourable).





Datasafe will still use Princo and Prodisc to manufacture media for them but this media will be marketed under their pan European brand “Datawrite”.





To mark the launch of the new Ritek based media, Datasafe have embarked on one of the most aggressive and outspoken marketing campaigns ever launched with a series of shocking adverts which makes no bones to the fact that they will increase market share by providing a high quality disc at the same price as other companies can provide a budget disc.





As of yet we have no idea on street price though it is rumoured to be up to half the price of comparable ritek manufactured products.





Click here for the new Datasafe ad (it is funny)





[ BTW: In our opinion Ritek is a good choice for Datasafe as they make some of the best budget disks. ]

Thanks to Flash we have found the latest Pioneer Firmware Hack. No more having to stick with v1.33 which often does not work with some brands of media, now you can go to any version you want, just download the version of firmware you want and replace the upgdvd.exe with the hacked version and then run the update as you would normally. Click here to go to our Firmware Download page.

WARNING: This has only been tested on a handful of drives, it has been confirmed to work, but you use it at your own risk. Also be advised that it can take several minutes to complete (20 minutes has been reported), so be patient.

Toast developer Roxio Inc. has announced its intent to acquire the assets of Napster, the now-defunct music sharing service. The deal is expected to close later this month.
It wasn't too long ago that information about Napster saturated newspapers, televisions and Web sites. The once high-flying service provided a way for computer users to share music -- often sharing commercial recordings of popular artists -- with impunity. The service's popularity raised the ire of some popular artists and their record labels, as well as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), resulting in lawsuits and court action that eventually lead to Napster's downfall. Napster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June of 2001.
Roxio is the developer of CD authoring software like Toast and Jam for the Macintosh and Easy CD Creator for the PC. The company was founded in September, 2000 as a wholly owned subsidiary of storage peripheral maker Adaptec Inc.
Under the terms of the agreement, Roxio acquires all of Napster's assets -- including its intellectual property, such as its technology patents -- but none of Napster's liabilities. Roxio has offered US$5 million in cash and 100,000 warrants to purchase Roxio common stock for the deal.
Roxio President and CEO Chris Gorog noted that
the acquisition will expand his company's "role in the digital media landscape," although he stopped short of outlining Roxio's specific plans for Napster's technology.
Roxio expects the deal to close following the approval of the Delaware bankruptcy court, which is expected to happen on November 27, 2002.

MEGAN Media Holdings Bhd is bracing itself for the deluge in orders for compact disc-recordables (CD-R) and digital versatile disc-recordables (DVD-R) worldwide by increasing its production capacity to 7.5 million pieces per month from 5.5 million pieces currently.

Heralding a major breakthrough in recordable DVD technology, TDK today announced the introduction of its Armor Plated DVD discs, premium quality recordable DVD media that incorporate next-generation hard-coating technologies to achieve unprecedented durability. Compared to standard blank media, the new TDK Armor Plated discs provide a remarkable 100 times greater resistance to damage from everyday use such as scratches, dirt, fingerprints and other contaminants.

Rich Martino, TDK Product Manager pointed out: “Once you’ve recorded a DVD, there’s nothing more frustrating than loading it, getting ready to enjoy a movie or do important work – and then it doesn’t play. Usually, it’s because the disc is damaged or dirty due to mishandling or excessive wear and tear. TDK Armor Plated discs are the solution for blank DVD users – they’re the most damage-resistant recordable DVD discs available, even more durable than pre-recorded DVD discs. In fact, in our lab testing we’ve even tried to scratch them with steel wool pads, and write on them with permanent ink markers – and the discs wouldn’t scratch, while the marker ink came right off.” Martino noted, “Although, this isn’t something a consumer would normally do, we conducted these tests to confirm the extreme durability of TDK Armor Plated discs, and verify that the media can withstand the conditions of everyday wear and tear.”

Martino concluded, “As DVD becomes a mainstream recording format for home and business applications, users want assurance that their irreplaceable family movies and critical data are safeguarded on media that provides the absolute highest degree of protection. TDK Armor Plated DVD discs give customers that assurance as never before.”

Armor Plated Technology for Unprecedented Durability
To achieve their unsurpassed durability, TDK Armor Plated discs incorporate next-generation hard-coating technologies for protection that is 100 times greater – literally orders of magnitude better – than any previously available recordable DVD media, as measured in rigorous laboratory testing. The Armor Plated coating guards against the scratches that can occur from day to day use, as discs are placed and removed from DVD players and drives and their storage cases.

In addition, the coating provides dirt resistance, making it easier to wipe off fingerprints, contaminants and even accidental food and beverage spills without damaging the disc. The Armor Plated coating is also anti-static, which repels dust accumulation. Because the TDK Armor Plated treatment protects the recording layer, it can prevent write/read errors, jitter or even dropouts in recording and playback. And thanks to TDK’s state-of-the-art, efficient manufacturing processes, TDK Armor Plated DVD discs carry only a small price premium compared to standard recordable DVD media.

The full line of TDK Armor Plated DVD discs will be available in the first quarter of 2003